From Brooklyn to the Catskills to Ukraine, Baltic Street Into Action funds creative arts programs that advance mental health recovery. Each project reflects our belief that recovery happens in community — and that the arts create community.
These programs represent the range of what we fund — from poetry therapy for veterans of war to music mentorship for people leaving incarceration. Every one is led by dedicated partners doing extraordinary work in their communities.
In the midst of war, artist Anna Liudnova began using poetry, art, photography, and music to support wounded veterans and their families. BSIA funds this remarkable project, which has trained more than 90 psychologists to use poetry therapy — helping people put the trauma of war into words.
Professional musicians mentor incarcerated artists at Rikers Island, and keep working with them after release. These mentorships foster hope and build support systems that help participants find employment and stability. BSIA proudly supports the Reentry Dream Band, whose concert tour now includes a yearly residence at the Newport Jazz Festival.
Launched in 2018, this program teaches people with lived experience of mental illness to bring the arts into their peer support work. In 2023, it became part of the renowned Howie the Harp peer training program.
A theatre project where veterans transformed their hardest experiences into drama — using role-play and audience talk-backs to build understanding between combat veterans and the communities they return to.
A grant funding musical equipment for a rural addiction-recovery collaboration. Participants use music as a resource for recovery, following a community music therapy model aligned with harm reduction.
A poetry anthology re-published as a resource for trauma survivors, with writing prompts to encourage self-expression. Distributed to survivors as a tool for resilience — because knowing you are not alone can restore hope.
BSIA helps fund research at the Louis Armstrong Center for Music Therapy, exploring how music helps children and teens cope with chronic pain — extending the reach of creative arts therapy into pediatric care.
The program where it all began — including the Baltic Street Band, the recording studio, and the After Hours Club. Now continued through Playing Through The Changes, a community music group at the Brooklyn Music School.
BSIA grants fund the real costs of running creative arts programs — instruments, materials, facilitator fees, and the operational support that lets great work continue. We seek out programs with demonstrated impact and give them the resources to reach more people. If you know of a program that belongs here, we’d love to hear about it.
Every gift to BSIA directly supports creative arts programs that help people in recovery build new possibilities. Join our community of supporters.